The Patterson Joint Unified School District board gave the green light to sell $25 million in bonds Monday.

Board members voted 6-0 to issue debt that the district will pay off over the next 20 years. Board members decided the money from this round of bond sales will go toward modernizing Patterson High School’s auto and industrial ag shop, building facilities at the soon-to-be-open Walnut Grove Elementary School and paying down existing debt.

Exactly how much money the district will raise is not clear. The total depends on what interest rate its representatives can secure. If enough money is raised, the board plans to include a student services center and a library building at Walnut Grove.

The district will pay for the bonds with money raised through a new property tax approved by voters during November’s election. The board has promised that in all, people’s property tax payments to the district will never exceed $72 annually per $100,000 of assessed property value.

Because of an older bond passed in 2001, a portion of local property tax already goes directly to the district. District officials estimate people will pay about $43 per $100,000 of property value in 2009. However, with the new bond taking effect, that figure will jump to $72 in 2010. The district plans to keep it at that level until 2026, when it will drop to $60 and remain there until all the debt is paid in 2045.

At a special meeting Thursday, the school board appointed a citizens oversight committee, which needs to be in place prior to the bond sales. District Superintendent Patrick Sweeney said the committee’s eight members, who come from various sectors of the community, will serve as liaisons, but it will be the board that has ultimate authority as to when the bonds are sold, when the money’s spent and what it’s spent on.

While the voter-approved bonds ensure the district will have millions of dollars for certain projects, there are restrictions that limit how the money can be spent.

Members with the district’s budget advisory committee, who have been tasked with making cuts to make up for decreases in state funding, have recommended Rising Sun Elementary be closed and probably about 20 staff positions be eliminated. Because of the how the bond measure was written, bond money cannot be used to help keep staff in place.

The budget committee will likely present its full list of cost-saving recommendations to the board at a Feb. 23 meeting, Sweeney said.